


Lost to time

by Laylaisthename



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-02-23 07:06:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13184892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laylaisthename/pseuds/Laylaisthename
Summary: "Her clip was empty. Hands move on their own to refill it, so used to the motions it barely needed any process of thought. Of course, there was nothing to refill it with. Ammo ran low about seven simulations ago. Three timelines ago she had nothing anymore."Alexandra, lost in the Infinite Forest without a fireteam at her back or a Ghost at her side, tries to find a way out. The Vex would not make it easy, but when the stakes are high as they can be, there's very little choice to be made.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My own canon of the events during Curse of Osiris! Makes a little more sense if you read (at least the last chapter of) "To the Morning we're cast out" 
> 
> But the tl;dr is that Lucile, a Hunter, used to study under Osiris mostly about the Vex. Warlock Ezekiel was an apprentice of Ikora Rey during that time, and when Osiris disappeard the two of them became good friends, to the point of considering each other as siblings. The Titan Alexandra is a lot younger, and doesn't really know anything about Osiris, but when Lucile was sent after him to Mercury, still followed after her. So while Lucy and Zeke go through the canon events of CoO, Alex has her own fun little adventure.

Soft earth sunk slightly beneath her weight, bright yellow grass flattened to the pace of the songs in her head. Alexandra had no idea where- or when- she was. But she has roamed the Infinite Forest for so long now, it didn’t really matter anyway. The Awoken was lost in time, like so many before her.

Her clip was empty. Hands move on their own to refill it, so used to the motions it barely needed any process of thought. Of course, there was nothing to refill it with. Ammo ran low about seven simulations ago. Three timelines ago she had nothing anymore. She didn’t stop her hands, giving in to the instinct and allowed this moment of routine, if anything just to keep them busy. Fighting through the simulated Fallen and Hive with nothing but her bare fists, and whatever Light she could muster in this Lightless place, left them bloodied and sore, even beneath all the armored plating. Alex doesn’t even remember the last time she felt this stinging in her hands. It was not a feel she would soon forget. Nor did she want to. It felt good, in a way. There were repercussions to her actions now. Every life she would take in this fake world would come at the cost of another bruise, another scrape.

“At close quarters a fist is better than any gun, right?” She says, out into the forest. Normally Nazar, her Ghost, would come out and say that shotguns did the trick too. She could practically hear his voice and feel the familiar bump against her helmet. The silence is what bothered her most. She was out of ammo, without a Ghost and lost to time, and yet complains about the silence.

At least the view was something.

Pink trees dotted across the landscape, each one with its own intricate pattern, created by the precise calculations of nature, made artificial. Or real. Real-enough, for now. Flowers matching the color of the leaves waved softly in the wind, insects she didn’t recognize were flying around her, curiously inspecting this stranger in their home before they lazily buzzed off again. Pools of bright blue water that came up to her ankles, reflected her battered armor back at her.

Her mark was thankfully still mostly unharmed, but the feathers on her collar were singed away, most likely by the flamethrowers on fake-Nessus, and her chest plate was all dented from ballistic impact. It was strangely humbling to see herself like this. After the City fell she spent months without the Light, but the Titan still had her Ghost to patch up injuries and friends that could help. Now she was all alone, and loathe to admit it but time was running out. Even if she wanted to, Alex couldn’t hold out forever. There was no end to this place. All it would take was one misstep, one stray bullet and she would die a final death between fake Cabal and fake Fallen and fake Hive, protecting no one and doing nothing in particular.

She trudges back out of the water and kneels down next to it. The HUD inside her helmet reads the atmosphere as safe to breathe, and once the air inside it has acclimated to her surroundings it comes off without trouble. Deep blue hair falls past bright orange eyes that are all too happy to see all the vibrant colors for their own. Clasps come loose, again her hands moving on muscle memory alone. Forearm guards, shoulders and gloves followed by her not-so-gleaming chest piece and finally the undershirt, now all carefully lain out beside her. She stretches her fingers out, glad to be out of the armor for a while. As expected, her knuckles were stained, small cuts and forming wounds from the friction that came with each armor breaking punch and jaw-shattering strike.

Her hands cupped up a bit of water and washed away the dirt and grime on her gauntlets, turning the tranquil water into a mix of browns and the sunset orange color of her blood once her bare hands touched it. For a moment the water shifted under her touch, not rippling like it should but moving, changing until the blood had disappeared. Almost like the simulation didn’t know what to do with it.

Ahead another one of these portals opened, and she contemplated just staying here, safely between the flowers and trees and blood-soaked water, until she remembered why she had come here in the first place. Lucile, her friend, her heart, and someone who owed her big time if-  _when_  she found the Hunter again. Lucy had ran off to Mercury on her own for secretive reasons Alex still didn’t know, and Ikora hadn’t been that great of a help either. All Alex got was an old Ghost shell she was supposed to give to Ezekiel, and advice to not let Lucile face this alone. Whatever ‘this’ was. Alexandra fulfilled the first half of her promise to the Vanguard: the Warlock got Sagira’s shell, even if it still took over  _her_  Ghost. And Lucile is technically not facing 'this’ (honestly, Alex wished someone would tell her what was going on) alone. The former-Nazar-now-Sagira and Zeke were accompanying the Hunter on their search for… something.

Piece by piece the armor comes back on, her helmet clicking into place with a satisfying hiss of air as the pressure inside changes to Earthen atmospheric levels. She fumbles a bit with her radio, trying -and failing- to get it to play music from her own library. This forest seemed intent on having Alex suffer through the silence. She grumbles loudly, declaring to the never-ending fields that 'all of this is bullshit’ as she steps through the gateway.


	2. What if's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is important to remember; nothing can be changed once it has come to pass. But looking at possibilities of failure, can be as good a teacher as living through it.

The sand beneath her feet almost make Alex believe that she has finally found a way back out to Mercury, but the towering Cabal base in the distance destroys that hope, and she recognizes it as one of many that are built into the sands of Mars. A giant Vex gate, desolate and broken, looms overhead, its dark metal gleaming in the low Marsian sunset, and suddenly Alexandra realizes where she is. Valley of the kings. Not quite when yet, but she had a hunch.

Carefully she approaches the gate, going awkwardly up a hill and nearly tripping on her way down and back _up_ and down _again_ , for a while before she reaches the base of the portal. Traveler, she misses her sparrow. She looks around, spotting nothing but sand, rocks, more sand, and the occasional stump of Vex construct. She never really did like Mars. The Moon neither for that matter but Mars especially. Much too open and empty.

Air around her hums with unseen energy, buzzing like the bugs did, but this time she does not stick around to see if its docile or not. She scrambles up a hill, grateful for her dunemarchers among all this shifting sand. The Titan makes it over the crest of the sand dune just in time, the telltale sound of metal clanking right on her heels. She presses herself chest-down against the sand, carefully peeking over the hill.

Radio static fills her ears as the channel shifts over, and her heart leaps when an all too familiar voice greets her on the other side.

"I think the prince doesn't like us much." Says her Ghost -though, technically not _her_ Ghost.

She hears herself reply. "I think that prince doesn't like anyone that isn't the Queen." And recoils slightly at the sound of her own voice, swearing that it didn't feel like it sounded that way.

And though she knows what comes next, she can't help but feel relief at hearing the following voice.

"At least he didn't damage the eye too badly." _Lucy_ "Having this thing is a great opportunity for expanding on the differences between the hierarchies of Vex archetypes, and finding another one is near impossible."

Simultaneously past and present Titan say: "What?"

"Their eyes are different, Ty." The old nickname stirs up a whole another set of memories within Alex. Ty -short for Titan- from before she had a name. Which meant that she was back roughly half a decade in time, before the Red Legion's attack, before the arrival of Oryx and his court of troubles: just before their assault on the Heart of the Black Garden. It was a day she remembered pretty well, and not only because after they returned to the Tower she had to write one too many reports about it. The Black Garden simply had that effect on people. It was an unexpected beauty amidst so much darkness.

Radio chatter goes through one ear and out the other, and eventually a hobgoblin screech snaps her back to the past-present. Alex looked over the hill, inspecting the gate's guards, and something felt off. Like everything was just slightly different than it should be, constantly shifting and changing in measures so small she couldn't see it.

In the distance two sparrows came rushing up to the Vex, one skidding to halt atop a dune overlooking the ruins, the other charging straight for their enemies. And seeing herself in her old armor- with a mark that still meant very little- made her feel nostalgic. Everything before then had been almost _simple_ in comparison to the challenges she faced. Especially the one she was stuck in right now.

The past-Titan's sparrow jumps over a hill, abandoned halfway in favor of an airborne strike into the fray. The sun had almost set at this point, and vain as it sounded, she couldn't help but compare herself to a falling star; burning bright against the night sky. Alex could practically feel the adrenaline pumping through her, that same rush of energy she always felt when her blood turned to lightning and her bones to thunder. Harpies and Hobgoblins dissolve in metal screams and sparks, and Lucile's backline support is making short work of the Cyclops beside the gate. Up until now, everything is happening exactly as she remembers. But the next series of events would doubtlessly haunt her for nights to come.

Behind past-her the sky shifts and changes into a Hydra, and Lucy yells for her to watch out over the radio, but it already was too late. The Hydra does not waste a moment before it lays into her, a constant barrage of void energy ripping through the Titan's defenses like nothing. A loud metal clang and a bright flare are followed by three Solar shots, reducing the Hydra to scraps. A Minotaur moves up to the Titan's Ghost, who is desperately trying to get his Guardian back up.

Pleading calls fill her ears. "Lucile! I need more time!" And the next scene moves in slow motion before Alexandra's eyes.

The Minotaur grasps the Ghost between its metallic claws, just as he is able to revive her, preventing him from returning to safety. Now-Alex could feel the sound of its chassis snapping in her heart, sending it racing, fearful. Past-Titan must have felt the same. By now Lucy is halfway toward the battle, but from her position Alex can see she won't be in time. The Minotaur's claw opens back up, dropping the broken Ghost to the ground like an old toy. In that same moment past Alex is captured around her torso and pinned against the ruins, all weapons on the ground and the Vex out of punching range, helplessly struggling against its grasp. A blast is fired at point-blank range into her, depleting her shields and the Minotaur's claw clenches again, slowly crushing her armor, breaking the polymer to shards until the desperate scream that had been coming out of the Titan is drowned out by shotgun blasts. The Minotaur lays in pieces at Lucy's feet, the claw that held the Titan aloft now nothing more than scraps but the Hunter had been too late in her rescue.

Future-Alex could do nothing now but sit by and watch herself die.

It’s a little hard to make out from this distance, but the stark contrast between the golden sands hued in darkness and Awoken blood that illuminated made it impossible to miss. The Titan had stopped screaming, now whimpering in pain instead. Lucile falls on her knees next to her, weapons thrown aside.

"Ty? Light above, Titan."

"Lucy it- it hurts so much."

"It's okay. It will be okay. I'm here. Milo-"

Her Ghost responds calmly: "She is dying, Lucile."

"Then do something! Heal her, or fix her Ghost or..."

"We can't do anything for her now."

Lucile frantically looks around, eventually spotting what it was she's looking for. As soon as she leaves the Titan's side, more cries are made in protest.

"Please, don't leave. I don't want to be alone."

"I'm here, Ty. I'm right here." And Lucy bolts away to snatch an old cloth that had been lazily waving in the wind and trots back. She tries to wrap it around her waist in an attempt at stopping the blood, but there already was so _much_.

"Lucy..."

"Shhh, don't talk. I will get you back to the Tower, someone there can help you."

And past-Alex's sorrow turns to soft, almost determined, talking.

"Lucile. Please stay. I can't-" she takes a deep, pained breath, "can't see the stars. Tell me about them."

The Hunter's arms drop the cloth and she sits down on the ground next to her. The sand around them still glowed faintly with luminescent blood, casting a soft light on the broken armor. Lucile removes her helmet, and then the Titan’s helmet too.

And Lucy describes them. Each constellation, pointed out with interlaced hands, eventually settling on the star-like Earth that could be seen even from where they sat.

"Is it safe?" the Titan asks. Her voice is weak, barely heard over the radio, but focusing on this is all Alex can do to keep herself from screaming.

"It's safe." Lucile replies softly.

And then the Titan asks again, each word spoken with more effort than the last

"Are... you... safe?"

"I'm safe. You've kept me safe."

"Good."

And it was silent after that.

If anything had been spoken, Future-Alex didn't hear it. The last sound she registered was that of cloth ripping before all she heard was herself. Her heartrate was spiking, each beat resonating through her chest, which felt so awfully hollow. Every breath was hitched and desperate and her helmet is discarded in a vain attempt to breathe more easily. But between the arid air and sobs that just won't stop she might as well be trying to breathe underwater.

_I am alive. I am still here. She is safe. None of it is real. It's all fake._

The thoughts repeat over and over in her head, and she knows it all to be true but her body still isn't responding to that fact, shivering violently, making her feel nauseous and warm.

She felt it. Alex doesn't know if this is some freak effect of the simulation on her body or if it's her mind trying to cope with the fact that she could have died so _easily_ that day, that she just _died_ , but when the claw crushed her armor and dug into her stomach she felt a shadow of that pain.

The gate to the Black Garden opens at some point, Alex barely registering the bright light it casts out.

And then the world around her shifts and changes ever so slightly. The moon that had been steadily rising is replaced by a setting sun, casting that same sickening glow across the sands. The metal scraps left from the battle disappear in a fata morgana-like fashion; one moment they're there, and the next it’s like they never existed. Her - _not her_ \- body is gone. No traces of the blood left behind. And moments later she hears the Ghost talk again

"I think that prince doesn't -"

Alex reaches over to her helmet and turns off the radio. Hands move over her face and up to comb through her hair, repeating the motions a few times over to soothe herself. Her breathing slows down, and eventually her heart does too. For a while she simply sits there with her head resting in her hands, tears she didn't know she had been crying out gliding off her armor onto the sand.

Across the valley behind her another portal opens up, and she doesn't hesitate for a moments before making her way over to it. The Vex have found a way to kill her, and she was not sticking around to see if they would kill Lucile too. She checks and double checks her equipment, self-monitoring her vitals and once her body had calmed down enough she skids down the hill, still muttering to herself every once in a while:

"It's fake. I am alive."


	3. New Friends,

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The journey home continues with a new compatriot in tow. And you know what they say; Two heads -especially those capable of being used as a battering ram- are better than one.

A heavy sigh escapes Alexandra, when her feet betray her so harshly, carrying on among _more_ sand. She wasn't on Mars, she knew that much. And it couldn't be a simulation of the deserts on Earth, because there were too many Vex constructs around. Unless, of course, this was some dark future where the Vex successfully converted Earth. She glances up at the sky, eyes not lingering for longer than they have to, and the absence of Luna was enough to convince herself that wasn't the fact.  
"Nazar, run planetary diagnostics. Let's find out where-" the words trail off into a soft spoken, "Right."  
Without her Ghost here, Alex has to run all data through manually and after some fumbling with systems she hadn't touched since- well, ever, Nazar had always been there to help -her suit pings her on Mercury. At first her heart leaps with excitement and relief, but when she calls her ship's auto-pilot and it doesn't respond, doubt takes over. Anxiously she tries again and again to no result. The signal is going out, she is sure of that much, but there's nothing out there to respond to it.  
It should have worked. There's no reason for it not to, save that maybe someone destroyed her ship. And even then there's half a dozen different back-up signals that should have notified her the moment she returned.  
The radio turns to Ikora's link in an attempt to send out a message.  
"Ikora? Are you there? We got into the Forest, but I lost Lucy and Zeke along the way. I don't know where they are." A moment passes. And another. But there is no response.  
"Fuck."  
She switches the frequency to the open Vanguard channels, hoping to reach someone.  
"Commander Zavala, Cayde, this is Alexandra reporting in. I am requesting a strike team for a possible rescue mission on Mercury. Do you copy?"  
Then suddenly another possibility as to why her ship never returned comes to mind.  
She momentarily reconfigures power from her shield and several auxiliary systems to increase the radio's signal to a much broader range, ensuring that there was no way for the Lighthouse and its occupants to miss it.  
"Vance, I uh," and she tries to think up a clever comment that would start his ramblings -as most things did- but only ends up frustrating herself. Lucile would know exactly what to say. Ezekiel and Sagira too, for that matter. At this point Alex figured _anyone_ was better suited for this mission than her.  
With a small sigh she watches as all systems go back to normal. Loathe to admit defeat, but if no one caught her messages by now, it meant that no one was getting them in the first place. Which likely meant that she was not out of the literal and metaphorical Forest yet.  
All she can do at this point is take solace in the fact that brother Vance's preaching could not reach her either.

A short trek up the highest hill nearby gives her a clear view of the landscape ahead. The Lighthouse is nowhere in sight and sands stretch out before her, between rising hills of dark rock and countless dead Vex chassis. An unseen rising sun casts everything in a red-tinted light from behind a sandstone plateau that towers high above. The sound of combat carries from behind her with the wind. Reflexively she looks back, over the crest of the hill. She knows this scene from a few simulations ago. Then she stood atop a ledge, a spectator separated from the battle by a drop she couldn't trust herself to make unscathed and got away through a gate that went into Venus. Now she can see someone fighting through the Vex not too far from where she was. Sparks of Arc Light flash against the relative darkness, and at the sight of another Guardian hope swells within her.  
She runs, nothing there to hold her back. Void Light gathers at her fingertips, binding together into a shield. Static builds from motion, led through her boots to her hands, making the cold called by the Void so much more bearable. Alexandra rushes past the stranger, bashing the shield into an oncoming squad of Goblins. Into screeches and vacuum they dissolve, and not a moment is wasted before more come her way. Fanatics approach her from the left, and just ahead the air hums with energy, quickly making way for two Harpies. Immediately she jumps to grab one by its tails, slinging it into a headlong collision with the Fanatics. Some are pushed back, but don't explode on contact like Alex had hoped. Their slow approach speeds up, and she has to make an effort to stay out of the crossfire. One grazes too close behind her, and the sound building up to the detonation has Alex frantically leaping upward, with a string of "oh shit"s following her. What little momentum she gathered in the jump sends her sideways, and when her feet touch the ground again, her enemies are already locked on. She stays cautiously out of their way, looking for something to kill the Fanatics with, without getting too close. Normally she would just punch or shoot them, but without bullets or a Ghost to pick her up when she inevitably died, those options were off the table. The stranger -also a Titan, now that she finally has a good look- punctures the eye of the other Harpy with a deafening blow. His hands clasp two edges of its body, tearing one part off in a crack of lightning and tosses it to her.  
Through the short-range channel he yells: "Here!"  
This would do just nicely. She holds it like a javelin, bracing herself in the sand and pitches the metal, propelling it with remnants of Light, with enough force to rip clean through one of the Fanatics. It explodes in a shower of radiolaria, and then the others are nothing more than swirling bio-mechanic matter too. The Harpy flew off, avoiding the explosion entirely. But now that it's comrades lay in scraps and puddles of radiolaria on the floor, it had the attention of two Titans put upon it. Alex runs after it, knowing it will roll away. She dashes past the Harpy and to the side, latching onto its chassis as it moves.  
She didn't often call combat fun, but for this she would make an exception. "You're not going anywhere."  
With gritted teeth she sinks her feet into the ground, turning her torso and pulling the Harpy with her. She twirls around once, twice, three times and lets go, hurling it straight at the other Titan. Arc energy crackles around his fist, winding up for a finishing strike and into lightning it dissipates, blowing away with the sand and winds. Post-combat silence settles in like the dust around them. Her heart rate drops, adrenaline fading. It felt good. As if her body and mind finally remembered that she was still alive. That she would not die so easily.  
Alex feels a hand clasp on her shoulder, and a comforting voice over the comms. "You fight well, sister. Utilizing the Ward as a shield, I have not seen that before. I received your outgoing signals. Apologies for not responding earlier but I was," he gestures to the carnage around them, pieces of metal scattered on the ground, "busy. But tell me, what are you doing in this cursed forest? Surely father has more faith than this, sending someone after me."  
And Alex is slightly taken aback by his calling her sister, "I... followed my friends here." She says, "I've lost them along the way."  
"I am afraid I have not seen any other Guardians in here. In fact, I am still looking for a particularly troublesome Warlock myself. Father, the Speaker-" he clarifies, only making Alex more confused, "told me Osiris came to Mercury. I was to stay away, but I can harldy leave an old friend to his fate, so I came to bring him home. Make him understand there is purpose to our resurrection beyond study."  
"But, the Speaker is dead."  
Everything went silent in the worst way possible. Most Guardians didn't react too strongly to the news. Either they never knew the Speaker too well, or they did not care for him all that much. Any sorrow expressed was along with that of fallen friends, another name on the memorials around the Tower. And though it was spoken softtly to himself, Alex had heard Ezekiel say nothing more than 'Good riddance.'

Silence hung in the air for a while, until he finally figured out a reply.  
"I do not understand. When- How could it happen?"  
Alex shakes her head. "We don't know. After the Red Legion attacked the City-"  
"Another attack on the City! By the Light, we only just recovered from the Fallen."  
Everything he says only makes her more and more confused. Alexandra considered herself something of a historian; there was much still unknown about the world before the collapse and no small part of the knowledge in the Warlock libraries had been found by the Titan herself in the past two decades. Though her focus lay with pre-City age events and objects, it was hard not to learn about the battles endured during the time of the Guardians. Remains of the Ahamkara hunts that supposedly drove the beasts to extinction and gave way to a whole new wave of fashion among Hunters. Damage from the Battle of the Six fronts could still be found around the City, from when Guardians truly stood together in defense of their home for the first time. Alex herself was faced by history when the corrupted Iron Lords raised their weapons against her.  
The last proper attack by the Fallen was well over 100 years ago, at the battle of Twilight Gap. Her eyes, previously lost in thought, focus on the Titan before her and the words escape her mouth before her mind can process what they meant:  
"Your helmet. I had one like it."

  
_They sat side by side, feet dangling off the Tower. A shiny metal helmet lay in the Titan’s hands, a bright purple light going down the middle, a feather-like comb crowning the top. “He was the embodiment of being a Titan.” Lucy said. “Think of the most Titan-like Titan you know” And Alex saw a Zavala-Shaxx hybrid before her, yelling loudly and enthusiastically that she best go patrol the Cosmodrome and lets out a snort. “Even more of a Titan than that. He was… eccentric, to say the least. But he understood his place in the universe. I think that’s mostly why he and Osiris disagreed so much. Osiris was still searching, trying to understand everything- knowing the man, he still is. But Saint? He knew. What he knew, no one knows. But it made him certain in his purpose." The helmet clicks on, the HUD flickering to life. In the corner of her vision four words display across the screen; ‘Valiant heart, unwavering resolve’ and just as soon they disappear. Her back straightens out and she perches her hands on her hips, striking a pose. "So, how do I look? Ready to bash a Kell?" Lucy lets out a snort. Alex lightly headbutts the Hunter, who pushes back with laughter and responds: “It suits you.”_

  
"But you... Everyone thought you were dead. You've been gone for almost a century. Saint- sir, you are a legend."  
His voice sounds lost. "A hundred years?" But finds its purpose quickly. He grasps her by the shoulders again. "Sister, tell me. Do the pigeons still fly?"  
A confused pause passes, to which *the* Saint-14, hero of the Six fronts, survivor of the Twilight Gap, who headbutted a Kell to its death, and whose Light knew no darkness, someone Alexandra always strived to be like in this second life of hers, asks the most painful question he could, the sound of his voice overlapping with the memory of her own dying breath;  
"Is it safe?"  
And though tears form at the edges of her vision, she replies with a shaky smile behind her helmet;  
"It's safe. We've kept it standing."  
His helmet rests against hers in a sigh of relief. "Thank you." He steps back still holding her at arm’s length. "Now, tell me of your City."  
And she does. What feels like hours pass by as they make their way across Mercury. Alexandra tells him about the obvious things first; the SIVA threat, the death of the Awoken Queen, the fireteam that faced Oryx and came back scarred but stronger. The Red War is discussed in lengths as the Titans fight back to back, quickly picking up on each other's rhythm in battle. He goes high, she takes out their legs. When she dashes off to the right, Saint-14 is already covering their left flank.  
His elbow is locked around a Psion's neck. "Outside the City walls?" He asks, with a degree of disbelief, "Truly?" And with a snap it falls lifeless to the sands with all its data-built friends.  
Alex herself is occupied salvaging for ammunition. "Yes. It was home to a small community. After the City fell it became a haven for those who... made it out." But it would seem she was still out of luck. From time to time her hands still grab her weaponry, checking the clip as if ammo would transmat into it out of thin air. "Even now it still is a starting point for people who choose to live outside the City."  
Saint-14 sounds a little disappointed. "They are dissatisfied with their lives within the City."  
She contemplates for a moment, dusting the sand off her mark. "No, I don't think so. Not entirely, at least." Heavy steps fall in pace beside her, and their seemingly endless journey continues. "It is like... how Hunters never seem to be able to sit still for a moment. Some civilians feel that too. I mean," and she gestures out to the landscape, hauntingly beautiful even when seeping with simulated black Cabal blood, "with all this out there it's hard to blame them for wanting."  
"I see. And they are not threatened? They truly feel at ease?"  
"I believe so. Very few actually knew how to handle a firearm, but some Guardians and I have been giving pointers. They won't be shooting like Cayde anytime soon, but it's a start. Zavala has been making good progress... with... what the hell?"  
The very world around them flickers and shifts. Flashes of a dark, rainy sky interrupt the Mercurian horizon and the ground changes beneath her feet from loose sand to solid pavement. For a moment it changes back to Mercury again, before the entire landscape gradually turns into the City; unharmed and unconquered, with citizens bustling about the streets around them, looking for shelter from the rain. Aside from the store clerk calling for them to come sit and enjoy a meal, no one seems to notice the sudden appearance of two battle-worn, armor clad Titans. She waves the man off with a dismissive hand, and he turns his attention to other potential customers. Her eyes turn upward to the Traveler, but the high rising buildings block her view.  
_"Outer sectors, near the walls."_  
Alex looks around frantically, and runs off toward more open roads, even in this supposed simulation apologizing to the people she passes. Saint chases after her and calls out, but his voices is drowned out by the bustle. He finally reaches Alexandra when she is standing in the middle of the road, looking up against the rain to a slumbering Traveler.  
"I know where we are."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been half a year but... y'know. I said I'd see this through to the end and I meant it. Good news tho; this one almost doubles the word count so at least you're getting some good stuff. Next two chapters are already more or less thought out and hopefully won't take an eternity to upload. 
> 
> In the mean time; I've said it before, I'll say it again; Feedback is so important not just for me but all content creators. It reminds us that people actually see our things and read them (and possibly like them too). I write because it's fun but its so gratifying when others also enjoy my works.


	4. ... And Old Enemies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Change is inevitable. That is simply the nature of the universe; entropy is uncaring about good intentions and bad consequences. 
> 
> This doesn't mean that it is always a bad thing.

"39th district." Saint says from behind her, pulling her gaze away from the sleeping giant. "Mostly residential, though it holds a certain political power too. A lot of Lysander's people settled here, since his own headquarters are nearby."  
  
She fashions her Light into a thin shield, holding it above their heads to stave off the rain.  
  
"Lysander?" She asks. It sounded familiar, but Alex couldn't quite place the name. Like something she read once in a book, or heard in a lecture but didn't take care to try and remember it.  
  
"He is the leader of the Concordat." Neon signs  
helpfully point the way to the nearest shuttle station. "Unless he has been succeeded by one of his disciples, of course. Father never liked him or his people much, their beliefs were rooted in self-interest too much to be of help to the City, according to him."  
  
"The Concordat- oh! They're not... they're not exactly around anymore." The Tower is in full view now, and once across the threshold of the station her shield disappears again, dropping a little of the water that lingered on top of it over her helmet, and it slowly drips across her visor.  
Thankfully it wasn't too busy at the moment. No one would ask about it, but it still felt weird to walk around the City proper in full armor. She awkwardly fiddles with the ticket machine and purchases two tickets to the Tower, silently hoping that when she returned to the City -the _real_ City- they would still be there. The lights slowly shrink as the shuttle ascends. During the ride up she recites most of what happened during the battle at Bannerfall to Saint.  
  
"At least the War Cult sounds more agreeable than some of Lysander's ideals. He was always very particular about the Speaker's influence." The shuttle comes to a halt and the passengers stream out. Alex makes for the way to the Tower, but when she looks, Saint is not with her. He stands out by the edge, near the shuttle landing-pad. His hands are wrapped around the steel bar, arms taught as he leans against them, looking out over the City. Quietly she joins his side. It was a matter of hours until the Red Legion would come knocking at their door. And the whole way here Alex had been preparing her speech to the Vanguard: to start evacuation, get the people out. Immediately send Guardians up to the big ship to shut the shield down and prevent it from subduing the Traveler. But as she looked over the City, that worry faded. It wasn't the starry-lit City she remembers from her first time seeing it, instead cast in a gloomy autumn shower, but it was safe and sound.  
"So much has changed since I left." Saint says. "It is... relieving to see the City has recovered in my absence. I knew Zavala would succeed, he has the heart of a leader, but it is good to see the progress for myself."  
It had stood long before she became a Guardian, and Alex figured it would still long after this second life of hers ran out.  
  
"This is the evening of the Red war." She says quietly. "It doesn't quite look like this anymore but," her hand casts out over the City, "this is her."  
  
"I would love to see your City someday, Alexandra."  
  
"My City?" She asks.  
  
" _Your_  City." He reiterates. A pigeon lands on the railing beside them. Carefully Saint reaches out to it, earning a curious stare from the bird before it flutters away, landing on the ground nearby where a flock of its friends peck at the scraps left on the floor. "My City is divided. It was so even before Father and Osiris tore it in two and Lysander's betrayal is further proof of this fact. But yours! Just look at her. She is so full of life and strength."  
  
"I don't know about that." She says, "Everyone's on edge. The past decade has been wearing us all down. And it doesn't look like it's going to get better anytime soon. New whispers from the Hive, sightings of Taken, whatever is causing" she throws her hands to the sky, "this. I don't know if we're- if _I'm_ strong enough to keep going."  
  
"Ah, but there is an easy solution for that."  
  
"How do you mean?"  
  
"Simple. Steel your Light and cast your shield. So that when the Hunters slink back home and the Warlocks touch the ground again they are allowed a moment's respite."  
  
"But what about us."  
  
"We stand and fight. Let them catch their breath. And when we fall our brothers and sisters will still be strong enough to pick us back up. Strength comes from more than muscle and Light alone. The six fronts were not won by a single Guardian, no matter how reverent they speak of Osiris and I. There are few things stronger than the bonds we share with those that surround us."  
  
She laughs, airy and dry. "I don't know how the power of love and friendship is going to help me now, though."  
  
"Ah, but we're not at that part yet." He says, "We still have to hold strong for now."  
  
"Hm."  
  
They stand there, side by side in the trickling rain, looking over the City. She watches a ship fly off toward the horizon, red turbine-lights following it like a banner. Its headed south and up toward the stratosphere, smoothly curving into outer space. For a moment she thinks it jumps away early, but when she follows its trajectory closer it doesn't make sense. She looks again, better this time and sees something huge they had missed before. The horizon was missing- cut short, so to speak as far, far off in the distance the simulation simply stopped. The mountains that surrounded the City were not there, a semi-transparent fog in their stead. It seemed the simulation only ran so far.  
  
Simulation. It was so easy to forget. The vanguard she wanted to warn were not real. The cabal that would invade hours from now were not real. The citizens living their unassuming lives, the birds that pecked away at the trashed food, whatever version of herself that was enjoying a celebration with friends in the City. None of them _could_ be saved because this had all already happened. She had already failed here once.  
  
She steps away from the railing, sending the pigeons flying, her eyes still steady on the open horizon. "I know a good spot up in the Tower."  
  
Alexandra would still like to try to save what she could, however.  
  
Saint takes a moment to follow and by the time they reach the Tower proper the rain still has not let up. As Alex remembered it wouldn't for hours more still. Eva Levante waves at her from her nook as if it were just another day, and unsure of what else to do, Alex waves back. Predictably, Saint bee-lines for the Speaker's dome, but before he sets foot on the bridge, the world flickers around them once again. There is still rain, but suddenly a lot more light falls over them as the structure disappears. The scene moves before her in flashes; legionnaires breaking in, tearing the dome apart, taking away the Speaker's unconscious body, all of it happening in the span of seconds. Alex dashes forward to intercept Saint, and throws the two of them back toward the wall, where she knew the ground would not disappear beneath them. More flickering. For a split second she sees Ikora, feels the Warlock's anger tangible in the air. And then Lucile, both arms still intact, and her past-self, newly named, as they pass through to be picked up by Amanda and successively be thrown off the ship by Ghaul.  
Everything stops again and the City is just like how it still looks every night when she dreams of it: burning and broken.  
  
It's Saint that moves first, pulling them both off the ground. She leans into him, focusing efforts on her breathing and trying not to panic. The meditations were supposed to help, Ikora said they would help her process and prevent exactly _this_ but-  
  
"Sister." His voice is steady, something she can focus on. "You know this injured City better than I, I need you to guide us."  
  
"I can't."  
  
"But you already have. You have fought to save her before, you can do so again."  
  
"No- I-"  
  
He puts his hands on her shoulders, pulling her gaze to face him. "Show me the Titan from the stories you've told me. Show me she is more than just the words she speaks."  
  
"I-" she takes a deep breath. "Yeah. Okay. Okay." She looks out to the City. The rain slowly lets up, and through the clouds the Light of the moon is barely visible, but enough to loosely keep track of. Time was moving quickly, she noticed, and soon dawn broke over where the mountains should be. And then that, too, passed to midday, all in less than the span of a minute. "They're winding the clock forward."  
  
"To when?"  
  
She climbs past the debris into the hallway, still littered with Cabal bodies, though the sweeper bot had disappeared by now. She wondered where it was today. "Well, the City was occupied for months, so not much happened here until we retook it. After that everything was quiet. "  
  
"Until you retook it, yes. Perhaps that is what they are looking for."  
  
They step outside, and reflexively Alex raises her hand to shield her eyes from the bright midday sun and then lowers it as soon as it sets again, just a few moments later. It was very disorienting, and added to the ever growing list of things she strongly hated about the Forest.  
  
"Then we don't have a lot of time to stop whatever they're trying to find." Her gaze falls on the flagship hovering beside the Traveler. "But the good news is that I think I know where we will find it."  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally a longer chapter im cutting up to a) prevent a 3k chapter and b) actually put out something. Id say that it wont take me another half a year but who fuckin knows at this point fellas

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback, people! It's the true "become-a-better-writer-quick" scheme. 100% guarantee to work. We don't do cash-backs.


End file.
